On Fri, 17 May 1996, Kevin Sullivan wrote:
> Noticing other people driving to work in their non-lbc's. Got me to
> thinking. Most of them look still asleep. I'm ON! Of course I'm
> driving an MGA instead of a Honda. I doubt if many of these people shout
> out "YES!!!" while driving to work, simply because the sights, sounds,
> and feel of it is so ... something. If you're feeling really superior,
> and buy a new one. I'm onto something here. They don't spend time
> cleaning, adjusting, and polishing their toasters. Same goes for their
I wouldn't knock modern cars. Some of their owners, sure, but not the
cars. I like Kermit the frogeye for lots of reasons. One of those
reasons is that he makes me appreciate what Miss Piggy (my blond colored
Accord) can do. If you only drive a modern car, it is easy to take it for
granted--unless you also own one that is 30 or 40 years old.
Fiddling with Kermit's choke, which includes having to get out
occasionally and pull the chokes off manually when they stick) makes me
appreciate climbing into Miss Piggy and just driving off no matter what
the temperature is. And my heaven, you just tickle the brakes with your
toe and she stops! Is it warm? We can fix that. Electric locks. Power
windows. Power antenna. 5 speeds, all synchro. What marvels! I once
calculated that I had gotten into my 81 Toyota and turned the key some
25,000 times at temperatures between -35F and +100F, and it had started
every single time. I remember my first Alpine; when it was below 10F I
did not even bother trying to start it.
I had had Miss Piggy for two weeks when it struck me that I had bought her
without even opening the hood to look at the engine. So I opened the hood
and looked. Yup. It's there. Somewhere under them hoses. However,
if not for the mechanical curiosity that Kermit helps keep alive, I would
not yet have had a reason to open the hood. Amazing.
And when I had a genuine Sunbeam toaster, I did polish it. Lasted 25 years.
Ray Gibbons Dept. of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics
Univ. of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT
gibbons@northpole.med.uvm.edu (802) 656-8910
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